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August 20, 2010

G123: Blue Jays 16, Red Sox 2

The six outs were a career low -- Lester's shortest starts before tonight were 2.1 innings on August 23, 2008 against Toronto (allowing 7 runs in an 11-0 loss) and September 25, 2009 against the Yankees.

The nine runs allowed were also a career high. Lester allowed eight runs to Tampa Bay in 4.1 innings on May 9, 2009 and he has given up seven runs three times, mostly recently, on April 18 of this year, again to the Rays.

The 51 pitches were also the fewest Lester has ever thrown in a start. His previous low was 76 on June 28, 2008, in five innings against the Astros. He threw 78 pitches in both of the 2.1 IP games linked above.

The 16 runs were the most the Blue Jays had ever scored against the Red Sox. They had scored 15 runs three times (September 27, 1988 (15-9), July 1, 2005 (15-2), and August 17, 2008 (15-4). It was also the Jays' widest margin of victory over Boston.

Lyle Overbay hit two three-run home runs against Lester and finished with four hits and a career-high seven RBI. He had 6 RBI (and two dongs) for the Brewers on July 23, 2005 against the Reds.

[I can post all that stuff within minutes because of Baseball Reference. The Play Index subscription $36/year is a ridiculous bargain. This is not an ad. I simply love B-Ref!]

Yamaico Navarro (#56) made his major league debut for the Red Sox in the fifth, pinch-hitting for Marco Scutaro. Navarro lined the first pitch down the left field line for a single. He took over at shortstop and went 1-for-3.

Did the Red Sox do anything else worth mentioning? Well, Dusty Brown had a double and two RBI, Marco Scutaro and Darnell McDonald each had two hits, Jed Lowrie singled, walked, and scored, and Daniel Nava made another great catch in left field.

Update: After playing in two games, Dustin Pedroia has been placed back on the disabled list. Short Q&A with FY here.

Dustin Pedroia's left foot is still sore. The Globe's Nick Cafardo writes that the team "may be suggesting more rest for the second baseman which could include more time on the disabled list or simply more time between appearances."

Lester has not allowed a run in his last two starts, covering 14.1 innings. In his two starts against Toronto this season -- April 28 and July 9 -- Lester has given up two runs in 13 innings, with 17 strikeouts.

J.D. Drew has reached base in 25 of his last 27 games, despite a batting average of only .211 (19-for-90); his OBP is .336 in that span. ... Toronto catcher J.P. Arencibia went 1-for-15 after his memorable debut and was sent back to AAA on Wednesday.

1903 - The Pirates set an NL record by making six errors in the first inning of a 13-7 loss to the Giants. The MLB record is seven errors, committed by Cleveland in the eighth inning against Chicago on September 20, 1905.

1919 - Joe Wilhoit, an outfielder for the Wichita Jobbers (Western League), goes hitless for the first time since June 13, ending his 69-game hitting streak. Wilhoit batted .515 (153-for-297) during the streak and finished the season with a .422 average.

1974 - Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 Tigers, but the Angels lose 1-0 in 11 innings. It is the third time Ryan has struck out 19 batters this season; the other two times were against the Red Sox, on June 14 (in 13 innings) and August 12.

2000 - Seattle's 12-4 loss to Cleveland is the seventh consecutive game in which the Mariners have allowed at least nine runs. That ties a 99-year-old record set by the New York Giants on September 3-6, 1901.

Does anyone else feel like between the endless DL stints, the random injuries, and the underperformance from guys like Beckett and Lackey, this first inning may have been the wheels coming off the wagon? I'm not lying when I say I feel a bit sick.

Last straw in terms of hoping for the post-season, I guess. I keep hoping for the team to turn it on and go on a run, which could still happen... I dunno. I'm just upset I guess. Sorry, L-girl, this isn't the most coherent answer.

I feel lucky, in a way, that I gave up on the postseason a long time ago. Not on purpose, it was just how I felt - always hoping to be wrong, more than willing to be surprised, but deep down, I had no hope this team would see postseason play.

So it's been easier for me.

I want them to win every game, of course - especially the games I watch or listen to - but I haven't been concerned about standings for months.

Not being worried about the standings probably makes it much easier to shrug off a lousy game like tonight's.

I just looked up the playoff odds. Coolstandings.com has the Sox at 11% to make the playoffs. Baseball Prospectus has them at 19%. This is of course before tonight's disaster. You'll forgive me for taking the under on both those.

with all that has happened, there is no way on earth the red sox should make the playoffs. yet it's still not out of the question, though it is a long shot. esp. if 2 of the 5 starters keep shitting the bed.

Well, I've been over on the FY post wondering where everybody was!! I guess the laugh is on me.

Anyway, I found this earlier and posted it over there.

Okay, I spent the last inning looking for this (it was better than giving all my attention to Lester).

July 15. from Abraham at the GlobeThe Sox face the real possibility of fielding one of the best teams in the game yet not going to the postseason, thanks to a series of injuries that have forced them to use an astonishing 77 different lineups over 88 games.

I remember reading this and thinking it was amazing. What do you think the numbers are now?

I know I have talked about this before, but I always remember that game I heard on the radio when we were in Maine probably ten or so years ago when we caught a distant broadcast of a game between Cleveland or Detroit where one team was down over ten runs and came back to win the game. It wasn't that Toronto game. I know Allan once figured out what game it was, but I no longer remember.

On August 5th, 2001, The Indians completed the biggest comeback in MLB History. Being down to the Seattle Mariners, 12-0 in the 4th, and 14-2 in the 6th, the Indians rallied to win, 15-14 in 11 innings. Thus, it became know by baseball fans as The Impossible Return

Nope, not a Sox game. That's why it was so unusual to hear it on the radio. It was a clear summer night where we were able to pick up the Cleveland broadcast on backroads in Maine on the way back from our friends' cabin.

Yes, I think I first loved baseball on the radio before I had ever seen a game live. I used to listen to Mets games in the dark of my room at night on a transistor radio! Listening in the car came later.

well, back in my day, there was no TV. OK, not really, but I didn't have control over the TV in our house, and no one else was a baseball fan in my family back then. They since have become fans---I think I was able to teach them the joys of the game at some point. My mother claims she was a Dodgers fan as a kid, but I think just because she lived in Brooklyn.

Oh, before I go - the radio thing is very cool. Like Amy, I never did it as a kid, but when we were traveling with the soap business I would be driving very long distances at night with her asleep and me searching for college or NPR stations, and occasionally I would happen on a baseball game. Couldn't help but stop and listen, at first just looking for a Sox update. I fell in love with it and before long it became what I was searching for almost as often as the others

I didn't watch baseball on TV either, as a kid, with two exceptions - we watched the WS every year, at least most of it, and in Brooklyn at my relatives' houses, where my grandfather and great uncle would be watching the Mets, and I would hang out with them.

I would ask questions about the game and they *told me the wrong rules*. Amazing but true.

I didn't get into baseball in a big way until high school, through friends.

i had only radio for most of my first several years of sox. game on tv on saturday and maybe sunday (cannot recall). plus whenever they were on monday night baseball. other than that: my yellow transistor radio tuned to WJOY.

Yup, told me wrong information. My take is they didn't think a girl could really care or understand, so they told me any old thing to shut me up.

Many years later, when I was really into baseball, I tried to connect with my grandfather through the game, but never could. It was like granddaughters and baseball existed in totally different spheres.

He was a huge Mets fan, watching by himself on a small TV in the bedroom while my grandmother watched movies or Masterpiece Theatre or whatever on the big livingroom set.

He was very sexist - very conservative in general. He was a terrific guy, such a sweetheart, treated my mom (his only child) and my grandmother like his princesses, absolutely devoted to both of them. Very sweet.

Well, those were the times, and those were tough values to change for many older men. My father, who obviously is a different generation from your grandfather, was sexist in many ways when I was little (though not in others, like whether girls should do well in school, go to college, etc.), but he has lived long enough to change his values.

That's encouraging to hear, re your dad. My grandparents were very conservative and very resistant to change of any kind, for any reason, EVER. Their inflexibility, their shock at any and all change, was a running joke in our family.

They were also politically conservative too, so there were many entertaining fireworks.

My grandmother, to her credit, thought it was great that her granddaughters had more options and choices and could live fuller lives than she was able to. She was not conservative about encouraging us to go to school and pursue careers.

You are lucky to have such clear memories of your grandparents. I had only one who lived long enough for me to know her well. She was not a political person--I doubt she had any opinions on such matters. I think my maternal grandfather was quite liberal and influenced my mother that way (he was a union member and involved in union matters, from what I gather). My father's parents I really did not know at all. I have no idea where he got his politics from, but despite being sexist, he has always been very liberal in his political outlook.

Very, very sorry to hear the news about Cody. You'll be in my thoughts.

Amy - good for your dad! My dad, 86 now, hasn't really changed his old school conservative thinking at all. I think it's more pronounced now that he's older. At least he tones it down when I'm around, knowingI'm from a different school of thought.

And btw - why the hell did we not score more while I was in the shower!? Apparently a case of premature runs......

Yes, I was lucky, two of my grandparents and some very special great aunts (my grandmother's sisters) were alive well into my adulthood, and I was able to appreciate them in a way I didn't when I was younger.

So many people from our grandparents' generation got their politics through being union workers. I have that on my father's side, one of a few good things I got from my father.

well at least the AL west came through for us tonight. yay for tampa pissing that one away. just tuned in for the final couple outs, in time to hear TB announcers bitching and moaning about a questionable call at first.

just scrolled the thread - so sorry to hear about cody, guys. i'll give her extra pats tomorrow and try and cheer her up. i'll make sure winston leaves her alone, since he assumes every dog is as rambunctious/rough and tumbly as himself, which isn't always a good thing.